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Show ::?.LT. DECISIONS ' ARB - " ' BAD .FOR FIGHT: GAME' 'Referees Fail to Declare Best Maa the Winner for' ; Fear of Antagonizing the Losef.: The cry from all over the country among the fight fans is "No more draws." One can hardly pick up paper with- tut seeing that Charley Blffklns fought a ten or twenty-round draw with Kid Wallop. Wal-lop. This Is tiresome to the ftht fans, as every one who follows the game knows that If two men fight ten rounds !n earnest earn-est one or the other Is going to have an advantage by that time. Nine times out of ten the draw proposition Is agreed to by the scrappers before they go into the ring. It Is generally stated Ihat If "both men are on their feet at the end of the bout it will be a draw. This helps greatly great-ly when the men are trying to fake and gives the.jmbllc the worst of it in every way. There are few businesses in which men of such sterling honesty engage as in the refereeing of prize fights. Siler, Roche, Graney and others are above the taint of suspicion, so far as honesty and disinterestedness disinter-estedness go, yet these sanre men will rive decisions of a draw time . after time; Usually the referee is disinclined to antagonize an-tagonize the adherents of the looser when the bout has been fairly close and declares de-clares the bout a draw for that reason. However, It is a mistake and the sooner the people agree to stop It the better It will be for the "ftrhting game. - - Imagine an umpire in a league ball game deciding that the race between the ball and the base runner is a draw. An umpire canntvt -give draw decisions and the referee ought to be fixed the same way. . As 611k O'Laughlln says, "There is no-such thing as a close decision." If a referee rs romper out and thoroughly familiar fa-miliar with the game he knows which man has had the -best-of the bout and should declare that man the. winner unhesitatingly. un-hesitatingly. Many people say, "Well, If the bout had gone five rounds further so and so would have beat his man sure." Those people do not look at the thing In the right light. If two men are matched for a limited number of rounds they should be Judged by their showing In those rounds and not by what one of them might possibly do if the bout were in limited. |